Topic: Redcurrant gin

[ayupduck]

Has anyone got a recipe for redcurrant gin? We've had a bumper crop this year and can't fit any more in the freezer.
cheers, R.

[Doris_Pinks]

I would do it the same as sloe gin, bet it will taste delish! ;D
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,287.0.html

[Old Central]

I posted a recipe for cassis - see under Apricot Brandy (it seemed a good idea at the time), togther with other soft fruit variants.

I found redcurrants didn't have enough flavour to overcome the spirit, as you will read. I was contemplating using it to add some oomph to my redcurrant jelly.

Good luck anyway and let us know how you get on.

[ayupduck]

Thanks for the info. I've probably got enough redcurrants to try both recipes! 

[Mrs Ava]

Well, as I also have a HUGE crop of redcurrants, I thought I had nothing to loose so this is what I whipped up today.

I can't remember exact amounts, but it was about half a bottle of gin, a pound of redcurrants all whizzed up in my blender, and about 6 oz of caster sugar.  All placed into a sterile jar and in my cupboard for the next 4 or 5 months (sitting nicely next to my jar of stewing cherry brandy!)  I will then strain it through a muslin cloth, and bottle and leave for as long as I can stand before giving it a whirl!  ;D

(Also made recurrant and rhubarb jelly and strawberry and redcurrant jam)

[Melbourne12]

.... I found redcurrants didn't have enough flavour to overcome the spirit, as you will read. I was contemplating using it to add some oomph to my redcurrant jelly. ...

I might try your recipe for cassis - never made anything in this line except sloe gin.

But I would suggest that some brands may be more suitable than others for redcurrant gin.  Strongly flavoured gins like Sapphire or Plymouth might well overwhelm the fruit.  Beefeater is the most subtle, and would probably be best.  The ubiquitous Gordons is medium.

[Old Central]

Just because I live in Wimbledon does everyone have to assume I'll drink gin? ;) (Even if that is the title of the thread.) For the redcurrants I had actually used a vodka and I think it was a good quality one. Yet still the redcurrants struggle to cut through the spirit. I have seen the French use a an alcohol specifically for fruit, does anyone have any experience of that?

Blackcurrants will cut through anything and I leave them on the bush until they are almost over ripe for the maximum intensity of flavour.

Last year's huge success was blackberries (creme de mures), which produces a great taste and a beautiful colour when used for a kir or, even better, a kir royale.